1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an authentication system, an authentication method, and an information processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Authentication control of authenticating user information input through an operation panel provided on an image forming apparatus and controlling the image forming apparatus such that the image forming apparatus is made into a log-in state or a log-out state has been known.
A terminal including an operating system (OS) is used as the operation panel of the image forming apparatus in some cases. In such a case, the following problems occur in the authentication control.
For example, the terminal itself does not control the log-in state and each of a plurality of applications installed on the terminal controls the log-in state. In this case, each application is required to detect whether the current image forming apparatus is in the log-in state or the log-out state and perform display control of a log-in screen. For these requirements, a mechanism for the log-in control needs to be developed for each application. Furthermore, when each application controls the log-in state, a type of the application that is displayed on a home screen cannot be adjusted in accordance with information of a user who logs in.
On the other hand, when the terminal controls the log-in state, deviation occurs between a period that the terminal manages as the log-in state and a period that the image forming apparatus manages as the log-in state in some cases. This deviation occurs because the image forming apparatus uniquely executes a power consumption mode, time-out processing, and the like.
A technique of converting an operation screen for the operation panel provided on the image forming apparatus to an operation screen for an operation panel provided on another image forming apparatus and displaying it has been disclosed (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-043515).
Also with the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-043515, when the information processing apparatus such as the terminal including the OS is used as the operation panel of the device such as the image forming apparatus, the above-mentioned problems occur in the authentication control. That is to say, conventionally, when the information processing apparatus such as the terminal including the OS is used as the operation panel, authentication control with high convenience cannot be performed.
Therefore, there is a need to provide an authentication system, an authentication method, and an information processing apparatus capable of easily performing authentication control with high convenience.